Musk teases September semi truck event surprises, music playlist tech

Tuesday

Elon Musk couldn’t help but include some teasers in his Tesla shareholder meeting address on Tuesday, reiterating that the company would be holding a special event to reveal its Semi Truck at the end of September, but noting also that he would “really recommend showing up” for the event because “maybe there’s a little more than we’re saying here.”

The truck should be news enough – Musk said he believes it’s very possible for the company to create a practical, all-electric semi truck that will fit the needs of large freight trucking companies. He also said that Tesla is talking to those potential clients throughout the design process, so that the vehicle will be tailor-made for their needs once it comes to market.

He said that the response from most people they show their work on the project to in the industry has been “How many can we buy and how soon,” and added that what we’ll see in September at the unveil will be a “working prototype.” He also added that he expects Tesla to be able to achieve production at scale on the semi within “about two years,” or possibly even 18 months.

The comments around wha else to expect at the event made it seem like Tesla will have other news to share totally unrelated from the vehicle itself, however. Musk was coy about the additional news, but did take a tangent later on to talk about music in response to a question about his own musical tastes. He said that it’s currently “very hard to find good playlists or good matching algorithms” in music, and said Tesla will have an announcement about finding the right music later this year.

It didn’t sound like that was the special additional reveal coming at the semi truck event, but as always, it’s hard to tell with Musk. Still, it sounds like September will be big for Tesla – 18 wheels big, sure, but maybe even bigger still.